Surprise
by subduedfangirl
Summary: Hanji didn't know what to say. She'd forgotten her own birthday, but everyone else had remembered anyway. [One-Shot]


**A/N: **Happy Birthday, Hanji! It's still September 5th in my timezone, so it still counts! I wrote some cute, silly fluff to celebrate. I also wrote this in one day, which is a huge departure from my usual "let it sit a few days and then write another draft" process, so I apologize for any mistakes from my editing rush job! Feedback is welcome, and I hope that you enjoy it!

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><p>It took a knock on her door to break Hanji out of her trance.<p>

She blinked a couple times, almost seeing her train of thought collapse in front of her. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Her notes were spread out across her entire desk in a system only Hanji understood, not leaving a single open space. She was _sure_ that she'd been on to something, some kind of breakthrough about the Titan's regenerative structure, but it was gone now. Hanji shrugged. If it had come to her once, then it would come back again.

The knock sounded at her door again, louder this time. "Coming," Hanji called, standing up. She walked over to the door and opened it to see Levi standing in the hallway, arms crossed.

"You've been in there all day, shitty glasses," he said. "What are you even doing?"

Hanji laughed. "It hasn't been _that_ long, Levi," she said. "I just sat down to look some things over for a few minutes."

"Sure about that?" Levi said, pointing with his chin towards the window.

Hanji looked over her shoulder to see the last bits of red and orange disappearing over the horizon. "Ah…" Somehow the entire day had passed her by. How had that happened? "It was kind of cloudy this morning," Hanji started to say, trying to find an explanation for herself as well as Levi. He kept staring at her with that always-upset expression. Hanji couldn't tell if he was really mad or not. "So I turned my lamp on," she continued. "I guess I didn't notice the light change." Hanji rubbed the back of her head, laughing a little.

Levi's expression didn't change, but after a long moment he dropped his gaze and turned away. "If you're done obsessing over Titans, the others have been waiting for you for a while now," Levi said. He started walking down the hallway with any further explanation.

"Huh?" Hanji leaned out into the hallway, holding onto the doorframe for support. "Levi! What was that supposed to mean?" He didn't answer, and turned the corner out of sight.

Hanji pushed herself back into her room, trying to remember if she'd forgotten something important. This _was_ the first day off they'd had in a while, so she was sure that she hadn't missed any meetings… Unless she'd gotten their vacation date wrong in the first place? Hanji grabbed her jacket, hoping that Erwin would forgive her for not wearing the 3DMG straps, and walked out of her room, following Levi's path.

Headquarters was silent. Most of the Scouts had gone into town for their day off, leaving only a small crew for security and the higher-ups. At least, that was usually the case. As Hanji wandered around, wondering where Levi had disappeared to, she heard voices coming from the mess hall. Had everyone returned already? She placed a hand on one of the doors, pushing it open—

A hush fell over the room as she stepped in, and Hanji stopped just inside the doorway as heads turned to face her. Not all of the Scouts were back yet, but a good number of people were gathered along the back table, and Hanji suddenly realized that they were all good friends of hers. There was her own squad, and Levi's, and even Mike's, all sitting together. Mike was standing up, paused in the middle of fixing a colorful paper chain that hung from the cracks in the stone wall. Erwin sat at the front of the table, Levi next to him. In moments, all eyes were on her.

Hanji's brain scattered. What had she forgotten? It looked like the start of some kind of party… But for who?

"Squad Leader!" Moblit stood up, beaming. He glanced around at the others, counting something down under his breath. Then—

_"Happy Birthday!"_

Hanji's ears rang with the noise for a second. She didn't know what to say. She'd forgotten her own birthday, but everyone else had remembered anyway. Hanji's vision started to mist over with tears.

"I—" She had to stop before she could even get one word out. Hanji put a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry. "Th-Thank you," she said, muffled through her fingers.

Two people rose from the table, and before Hanji could blink, she was getting hugs on both sides from Nifa and Petra. "Happy Birthday, Squad Leader," Nifa repeated quietly. Hanji gave up holding back her tears. She hugged them both.

After a few minutes, the two walked Hanji over to the table, where a cake emblazoned with the Survey Corps symbol waited for them. Molbit apologized at least a dozen times in a row for not being able to get candles—the small wax ones were rare even in Sina nowadays—but he stopped when Hanji said that it was beautiful anyway. He cut the cake and distributed the pieces with a slight smile on is face.

Hanji had only taken one bite when Petra clapped her hands together. "Presents!" she declared with a smile on her face.

Erwin had gotten her a book, thick and dusty. The inside cover had a map of a land Hanji had never heard of. "Where did you get this?" she asked him, but Erwin only nodded and smiled.

The joint present from Mike and his squad was a new set of goggles with removable lenses. Nanaba showed her how to take them out and put in the special tinted ones so that the early morning and late afternoon light was easier to bear.

Her own squad gave her a new set of glass vials. Nifa promised that they were thicker than her last set, which had melted during an expedition where Hanji had tried to take a sample of Titan blood before it could evaporate.

"Does anyone want to try this?" Petra called out. She held up a faded pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey poster. Auruo was the first one to stand up.

Hanji looked around the room while Mike attached the poster to the wall, and saw Levi sitting by himself at the end of the table. She slipped away from the others and walked over to him. "Sitting out the party?" Hanji asked, nudging him with her elbow when she sat down.

Levi looked at her and then looked away, not moving his head. "You're the one who forgot your own birthday," he said. He lifted his cup with his fingertips, taking a sip from it.

"And thank you for reminding me in your own cryptic way," Hanji said, ruffling his hair.

Levi pushed her hand away. Hanji had expected him to get up and move, but he stayed put. "Enjoy your presents?" he asked.

"Yeah, everybody was really thoughtful," Hanji said, glancing further down the table. Auruo had taken the first turn at the blindfold. Petra was giving him directions, but Gunther and Erd countered her with every word. "It's nice, you know? To have moments when we can just be together," Hanji said. She watched Auruo miss his mark on the donkey tail and then pass the blindfold off to Mike with a frown. "Thanks for coming to get me," Hanji finished.

"Hmm," Levi said.

"You could say 'you're welcome,'" Hanji teased, but stopped laughing when she felt a light hand under her chin, turning her head around. Hanji found herself staring into Levi's eyes. He was so close—

—A cheer went up from the other end of the table when her lips touched his. Mike pulled off his bandana to assess his victory, Nanaba holding his arm in the air. There was a round of applause.

"Congratulations on not dying for another year," Levi said, dropping her chin. Hanji didn't respond. She didn't move when he stood up and walked away, and stayed there when she noticed that she could still hear his voice over the sound of the party telling Aruro to stop flirting and gather the dirty cake dishes for him. Hanji didn't react at all until she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Squad Leader? Is everything okay?" Hanji tilted her head up to see Moblit's concerned face hovering over her.

She smiled at him, the biggest grin that day. Something light was growing in her stomach, and Hanji wondered if she would just float away. Was there a scientific basis for that? "Everything's great, Moblit," she said, touching a finger to her bottom lip. "This is the best birthday I've had in a while."


End file.
